The Science Fiction of Iain M. Banks: 5 (SF Storyworlds: Critical Studies in Science Fiction) by Hubble, Nick; Norman, Joseph
First printing. A very good clean copy.
"Critics have paid less attention to Banks's SF than his mainstream work although a substantial body of scholarship on the Culture series has developed since at least 1996, significantly increasing in volume since around the time of Banks s death in 2013. Banks's non-Culture SF such as The Algebraist, Feersum Endjinn and Against a Dark Background has received the least attention of his oeuvre to date. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the author's science fiction, determining unique areas of connection.
Reviews
Iain Banks (with or without the M.) is a writer who repays close attention. Under the joyous razzamatazz of his storytelling, there is always a great deal more going on. The different voices in this collection open up new readings, new perspectives, new excitements in his work, without ever forgetting the sheer fun of his novels. --Paul Kincaid, author of Iain M. Banks, Modern Masters of Science Fiction
The Science Fiction of Iain M. Banks takes the reader through the imaginings of a truly wondrous player of games, where we see Banks' love of life transformed into a love of all life. Bringing his epic space opera into closer focus, this book examines Banks far future scenarios, where technology reigns supreme and where humanity is merely a control experiment. --Patricia Kerslake, author of Science Fiction and Empire
Iain M. Banks holds a special place in the hearts of sf readers and this collection of smart essays reminds us how brilliantly clever and challenging he was even at his most playful. For any fan of the Culture novels and stories, this is essential reading. --Andrew M. Butler, author of Solar Flares: Science Fiction in the 1970s
About the Editors
Nick Hubble (@Contempislesfic) is Reader in English at Brunel University London. They are the author of Mass-Observation and Everyday Life: Culture, History, Theory (2006/2010) and The Proletarian Answer to the Modernist Question (forthcoming, 2017), and co-editor of five books: The Science Fiction Handbook (2013), The 1970s (2014), The 1990s (2015), The 2000s (2015) and London in Contemporary British Fiction (2016). Nick has also published articles on SFF in Vector, Foundation and Extrapolation and reviews in Strange Horizons, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Foundation and Vector.
Esther MacCallum-Stewart is an Associate Professor of Games Research at Staffordshire University. Her work examines the ways in which players understand the games that they play, and has included work on roleplaying in games, deviant play and gender, sex and sexuality in games; including Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Popular Fantasy: Beyond Boy Wizards and Kick-Ass Chicks (2016), edited with Jude Roberts. She was the Gaming Area Head for Loncon 3, which featured several items celebrating Iain M. Banks s work, including the games jam described in this book. She is currently working on an edited collection of essays and writing on the theory and growth of Boardgame Studies with Douglas Brown (Falmouth University).
Joseph Norman is a creative and critical writer, who teaches Creative Writing and English Literature at Brunel University London. He has published on SF, Utopianism, Weird Fiction and Heavy Metal, as well as recently completing a PhD focused on utopian processes in Iain M. Banks's Culture series. Joseph blogs at https://weirdmetalblog.wordpress.com/"
Gylphi Limited 2018